


The Misadventures of Little AU Witches Katniss and Johanna

by Lysippe



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 23:39:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5268212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lysippe/pseuds/Lysippe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was from a headcanon posted on the jonissheadcanons tumblr page:</p>
<p>"Johanna is a 4th year when Katniss is a 1st year, and she meets the girl on the train and offers to sit with her since she looks lonely and Johanna thinks she’s cute. Katniss confesses that she’s really worried the hat will put her in the wrong house, and Johanna says, “Well, it put me in Slytherin and I’m loving every minute of it,” and that’s the moment Katniss decides she wants to be a Slytherin (and the Sorting Hat considers her opinion and grants her the Slytherin house)"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Finding Home

**Author's Note:**

> I tweaked the prompt on this one a little, mostly because the age gap between a fourth year and a first year squicked me out for shipping. And partly because Johanna as an angsty 12-year-old is my new favorite thing in the universe.

Johanna Mason walked through compartment after compartment on the Hogwarts Express, looking for a place to sit. She hadn’t come across any of her friends yet, and everywhere else was already packed. This was why she had wanted to be early, but had anyone listened to her? No. The train was a lot less intimidating as a second year, but finding a seat was every bit as impossible.

Just as she was about to give up and just shove herself into a random, overcrowded compartment and get cozy with whoever was in already inside, Johanna passed what looked like an empty compartment. Upon further inspection, she realized that there was a girl inside, staring intently out the window. She was small, with a dark braid, and Johanna didn’t recognize her. Probably a first year.

“You mind?” Johanna asked. The girl looked like she could use some company, and the compartment was all but empty.

The girl’s head whipped around so quickly that her braid made an audible  _thwap_  as it hit the window, and Johanna couldn’t help staring at her. She was pretty, with gray eyes and a serious face. Shaking her head furiously, the girl gestured for Johanna to sit down.

“I’m Johanna Mason,” Johanna prompted, sticking her hand out. 

“Katniss Everdeen,” the girl said quietly, taking her outstretched hand.

“Scared, Everdeen?” Johanna asked, trying to sound friendly. “I don’t bite, you know.”

“No,” Katniss said, giving another little shake of her head. “This is all just a lot to take in. I didn’t even know I was a witch until a couple months ago, and I kind of thought it was all a joke for a while, but now here I am, and…” she trailed off, glancing back out the window.

“You’re muggle-born?” That explained her perpetual look of shock and awe, at least.

“Yeah.” A worried look crossed Katniss’ face. “They said it wasn’t a big deal, that I wouldn’t be the only one.”

“It’s not,” Johanna assured her hurriedly. “I mean, it is to some people. But they’re idiots. Anyone gives you grief, just tell me and I’ll hex ‘em for you,” she smiled cockily, pulling out her wand.

“Thanks… I guess,” Katniss said, offering up a hesitant smile.

“Anytime. What are upperclassmen for?” God, this girl was adorable. Her piercing eyes, that shy little smile… Johanna felt her cheeks flushing a little, and recalled the other girls in her year talking about which boys they thought were cute, realizing that this was probably how they felt and feeling a little bad for rolling her eyes whenever they started.

“Is everyone as nice as you?” Katniss asked suddenly, her ears turning pink. “I mean, what if the sorting hat puts me in a house with mean people? Or one that I don’t belong in?”

Johanna sat down beside Katniss and patted her on the shoulder. “There are no houses full of mean people. There’s mean people in every house, and there’s nice people in every house. That’s how it works. I mean, it put me in Slytherin, and people think they’re all mean, but I’m loving every minute of it,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Why do people think Slytherins are mean?” Katniss asked.

“I dunno. We’re all supposed to be cunning and ambitious and stuff, so some people think we’re all jerks,” Johanna shrugged. “But it’s pretty chill. Point is, you’ll be fine. So quit worrying, okay? Like I said, I’ll hex anyone who’s mean to you.”

“Okay,” Katniss said unconvincingly.

“Good,” Johanna said firmly, nudging the girl’s shoulder. “Who knows, maybe I’ll even see you in Slytherin.”

That seemed to work. Katniss smiled, bright and sincere and almost completely unafraid. “I’d like that.”

\- - - -

“Everdeen, Katniss.”

Katniss walked up to the stool nervously, smoothing out her robes as she did. It had been a lot easier to not be afraid when Johanna was there to make her feel better. Her eyes scanned the crowd, trying to find Johanna at the green table amongst the sea of black robes and hats. When she couldn’t, Katniss’ heart sank a little. She felt the hat being placed on her head and instinctively closed her eyes, hoping that something terrible wasn’t about to happen.

_Curious._

Katniss’ eyes shot open at the voice, but there was no one there. The voice was coming from the hat itself, she realized. Well, that was weird. But then again, it was magic.

_Loyal and hardworking… but also brave… and certainly more than a little cunning. You could go many different ways, girl. But the question is, which way would be best?_

Katniss’ heart was pounding in her throat. If someone had told her six months ago that she would be this scared of wearing a hat, she would have laughed at them, but here she was, terrified.

Then she remembered Johanna’s confident, smiling face. Any house that had someone like Johanna Mason in it had to be okay. “Slytherin,” she murmured, not even knowing whether the hat could hear her, much less whether it cared what she thought.

_What’s that, my dear? You want Slytherin? That won’t be an easy path for you, you know. A worthwhile one, yes, but certainly not easy._

“I want Slytherin,” Katniss repeated, just as quiet but more firmly this time.

_As you wish_.

“Slytherin!” The hat screamed, and Katniss felt her ears start to ring.

She burst out into a wide smile and sprung up as soon as the hat left her head, running over to her new house’s table, where she saw Johanna shove the boy next to her over playfully, making a spot for Katniss and gesturing furiously.

“Over here, Everdeen!”

Katniss made her way over to Johanna, whose excited grin matched her own. She was surprised when the older girl wrapped her arms around her tightly and whispered in her ear, “Welcome home, Katniss. You’re gonna love it.”

Home. As she turned her attention back to the sorting hat, Katniss thought that she could definitely get used to having Johanna as part of her home.


	2. A Hundred Detentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s official. Writing angry 12-year-old Johanna without using all the words I usually use is really hard, but I can’t stop. And her dialogue is so awkward for me, because no incarnation of Johanna Mason will ever be good with words in my head.

A month into her first year, Katniss had all but forgotten about Johanna’s promise to hex anyone who gave her trouble. But the first time someone called her a mudblood, Johanna had appeared out of nowhere and hit him squarely in the nose with a bat bogey hex before Katniss even had a chance to register what she had been called.

It had been one of the fourth-year boys in her house. He stood a foot taller than either of them, but Johanna was faster with her wand, and the boy hadn’t known what had hit him until it was too late and there were bats flying out of his nostrils, causing Katniss to double over with laughter at his misfortune.

Once the boy had departed, swearing violently at both of them, Johanna turned to Katniss. “Don’t listen to him,” she said fiercely. “He’s an idiot. I should have punched him in his stupid face while I was at it.”

Managing to compose herself, Katniss shot Johanna a confused look. “What was that for? What’s a mudblood?”

Johanna frowned, grabbing Katniss by the arm and pulling her into an empty classroom, away from the small crowd that had gathered to witness the short-lived duel. “It’s what some people call muggleborns. Because they think that they’re less pure than other witches,” she spat. “It’s really offensive, though. Like, really bad. And unfortunately, there’s a few Slytherins who think that way.”

The hurt expression on Katniss’ face at realizing that not everyone in her new home was going to accept her made Johanna want to throw something through a window. “But they’re  _idiots,_ I told you. All of them. And he deserved way worse than what I did. I just wish I knew some worse hexes,” she said ruefully.

“Okay, but why’d you hex him? You could have just told a teacher,” Katniss pointed out reasonably. 

“What, did you forget already, brainless?” Johanna teased. “I told you I’d hex anyone who gave you trouble, and I meant it.”

“You really don’t have to do that,” Katniss shrugged. “I mean, okay, he was a jerk. But is that really worth getting detention for?”

“Yes, it is!” Johanna said, her ferocity startling the younger girl. “ _No one_ , especially no one from Slytherin, is going to give you any crap while I’m around. They’re your house, and your house is like your family. Family take care of each other, and if they can’t do that, they don’t deserve to be here. That’s worth a hundred detentions, you understand?”

“It’s okay,” Katniss smiled, surprising Johanna by grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly. “If he tells, I’ll just say he was about to hex me and you were protecting me. Let’s see them give you detention for that.”

Johanna laughed at that. She had had her doubts at first, but she was beginning to see how Katniss was going to fit in just fine in Slytherin.


	3. Things You Could Say

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know why I keep writing this AU, but it’s just too much fun, and they’re in my head and won’t go away and it’s a nice change of pace for me.
> 
> Also, I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve written Finnick. Clearly tonight is a night of trying new things.

It took Katniss a while to realize that Johanna had a bit of a reputation at Hogwarts. She noticed little things, of course, like how Johanna never hung out with any of the girls in her own year, or how sometimes when Johanna was in a bad mood, whole crowds of students would move out of her way as she stormed through the castle.

In fact, Johanna’s only other friend seemed to be a handsome and popular fourth-year named Finnick, whom Katniss recognized as the boy Johanna had shoved out of the way on her first night at Hogwarts. Finnick treated Johanna like a little sister, teasing her and ruffling her hair until Johanna inevitably got mad enough that she threatened to pummel him. Whenever this happened, Katniss always had to look away, because Johanna had sulked for an hour the one time she caught Katniss laughing.

Eventually, Johanna’s reputation extended to Katniss. No one dared call her names, or play the type of pranks that they played on the other first years. And it wasn’t like Katniss was all that great at making friends to begin with, but when she was with Johanna, all the students in her year seemed too afraid to even look at her. 

Katniss knew people talked about Johanna behind her back, and she knew by the way Johanna’s eyes hardened and her scowl deepened at the sight of certain people that she knew as well. And Finnick, well, he seemed to know everything. 

  
One late December night, while Johanna was serving one of her shockingly regular detentions for Katniss couldn’t even remember what, Finnick caught her frowning at a group of gossiping sixth-years who were being just a little too overt in their conversation about underclassmen who didn’t know their place - of whom Johanna was apparently one. 

“Johanna’s not good at making friends,” he said quietly, sitting down in the chair beside her. I don’t know what she did with you, but you’re the first person other than me that she hasn’t managed to push away.”

“Why, though?” Katniss asked. “I mean, she’s a little…” she trailed off, trying to find the right word to describe her friend.

“Temperamental?” Finnick suggested.

“Yeah. She’s temperamental, but she’s nice.”

“She’s nice to  _you_ ,” Finnick said, pursing his lips and glancing around to make sure that no one was within earshot. “But she’s a lot different this year. Last year she got into fights all the time. That boy she hexed in the hallway? Not the first time that happened. Though it was a bit more merited this time,” he conceded.

“What happened?” Katniss asked. It was just too hard for her to reconcile the girl who had extended a hand of friendship to her on the train with the girl Finnick was describing. The girl Johanna apparently was with everyone except her.

Finnick gave her a funny look, as though he really wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how to put it into words. “You’re a good friend for her,” he said finally. “I just hope she is for you, too.”

“She is!” Katniss said hurriedly. “She’s nice to me, and she bought me candy on the train when I forgot to bring food, and she doesn’t tease me when I don’t know things. And no one picks on me when she’s around.”

Finnick laughed at that. “Of course they don’t. Johanna’s pretty good with her wand, and no one wants to be on the receiving end of her temper.”

“Why are you friends with her?” Katniss asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Not only was Finnick two years older than Johanna, he was the object of every girl in school’s affections. And Johanna just seemed to yell at him all the time, anyway.

“I like hanging out with a girl who doesn’t want to date me,” Finnick said plainly. “And she’s funny, the way she’s always shouting at everything. It’s adorable, don’t you think?” He gave her a conspiratorial wink as Johanna stormed into the common room, hurling her bag at the table in frustration.

Really looking at Johanna for the first time, Katniss thought that Finnick was right. She  _was_ adorable. In a slightly terrifying way, but still. She felt herself begin to blush and glanced away, but when Finnick started to laugh, she knew he had noticed anyway.

“Yeah,” she said under her breath. “I guess you could say that.”


	4. Simple Gifts

Johanna stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas. She refused to say why, but she didn’t seem upset about it at all, so Katniss figured it was probably by choice.

Katniss tried to convince her to come home with her at first, but Johanna was steadfast in her refusal, giving a different excuse every time she was asked.

“I don’t want to intrude.” ( _You wouldn’t be intruding, you’d be keeping me company. It’s boring at home._ )

“It’d be weird.” ( _No weirder than spending Christmas by yourself.)_

“I don’t even know your family.” ( _That’s what meeting people is for._ )

“They’d probably hate me. People’s moms always hate me.” ( _My mom wouldn’t even notice you were there._ )

Eventually, however, when Katniss realized that Johanna was simply not going to be convinced, she changed tactics. She sent her mother an owl informing her, in what she hoped was an appropriately apologetic manner, that she had a lot of homework to do over vacation and she really couldn’t make it and she was sorry and would make it up to her and say hi to Prim (she missed her sister, even if she didn’t miss anything else).

As expected, she received no response.

By Christmas Eve, the Slytherin dormitory was all but deserted. Even Finnick was gone. (Johanna said he had a  _girlfriend_  (complete with exaggerated fake gagging noises) at home, and when Katniss asked if she was a muggle since she didn’t go to Hogwarts, Johanna just looked at her with serious eyes and said, “There are  _reasons_.”)

They sat in silence in the Common Room, eating their own little private feast that Johanna refused to tell Katniss how she had procured (she had mentioned something about the kitchen workers being really eager to oblige, but refused to say any more when pressed), until finally Johanna spoke.

“You didn’t have to stay here just for me, you know. I’m sure your family wants to see you, and I’m used to spending holidays here alone.”

Katniss frowned at her. “I don’t think they mind,” she said carefully, not wanting to tell too much. “I told them I had a lot of homework and needed to use the library. And I’d rather spend Christmas with you, anyway.”

“God, your home life must suck pretty bad, then,” Johanna scoffed.

“No,” Katniss said hastily. “I mean, yeah, but not really. That’s not why. My family have each other for company. I just didn’t want you to be alone.”

“I’m not alone,” Johanna said. “I have you. You don’t have to be here to keep me company.”

Katniss didn’t really understand what Johanna meant by that, but she heard the finality in her voice and dropped the topic anyway.

\- - - -

Halfway through the night, Katniss appeared in Johanna’s room, tugging at her bedsheets.

Johanna, who had actually woken up the moment the door creaked open, opened her eyes and tried to glare at Katniss for disturbing her sleep. She was pretty sure it came out closer to a dazed, unfocused grimace than anything else, though. 

“What are you doing here, brainless? Your room’s the next one up, remember?”

“I know that,” Katniss said defensively. 

“Then  _what are you doing here_?” Johanna repeated with more purpose this time.

“I had a bad dream,” Katniss blurted out. “And I figured that since there’s no one else here…” she trailed off, seeming to realize how absurd she sounded as the words left her mouth.

“You didn’t want to be alone?” 

Katniss nodded slightly, backing away from the bed. “Forget it,” she said. “It was dumb. I’ll go now. Sorry for waking you up.”

As Katniss was about to turn around, however, one small hand shot out and grabbed hold of her wrist, the other pulling the covers back as Johanna pulled her down onto the bed. “Get in,” she said. 

At Katniss’ surprised expression, Johanna sighed, rolling onto her back. “It’s okay. I have them, too.”

\- - - - 

Christmas morning arrived, and to their surprise, two large presents sat beside Johanna’s bed, addressed to each of them, from Finnick. 

As they sat munching on the mounds of sweets that Finnick had sent (Johanna said he was terrible at getting presents and he always got her candy and she didn’t even like it that much, but the way her face lit up at the simple gift said otherwise), Katniss caught Johanna staring forlornly at the floor beside her bed. 

“I wanted to get you a present,” she said abruptly. “But by the time I figured out what I wanted to get you, there were no more Hogsmeade trips left. I told Finnick I’d pay him double if he snuck in for me, but he wouldn’t do it, and I already got in trouble the last time I did. I should have, though. It would have been worth it.”

Katniss laughed a little and shook her head, the strands that had come loose from her braid during the night falling over her eyes as she did. “I wasn’t expecting anything, anyway. And I didn’t get you a present, either, so it’s okay.”

“You did, too,” Johanna said, frowning. “You kept me company. That’s the best Christmas present I’ve gotten in a long time.”

“Well, then that’s what you got me, too,” Katniss said firmly, glaring at Johanna as she opened her mouth to protest. “And I love it.”


	5. Killing Finnick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Let’s see how many people will refuse to read this on the basis of the title alone.) 
> 
> This is based off of a headcanon posted to the jonissheadcanons Tumblr, which I decided to work into this fic, about Katniss reading in the library and Johanna being there for detention and whatnot, and somehow it turned into this in my head. Literally the only similarity between that headcanon and this fic is that Johanna has detention in the library, but still, that's where the inspiration came from, so I'll give credit where credit is due.

Katniss was pretty sure that Johanna was the first person ever to get a detention from Madam Pince. She hadn’t even known that the librarian could  _give_  detentions, but if anyone could manage it, it was Johanna.

Then again, she supposed that if anything was bound to set a school librarian off, it was throwing a book at a student.

Peeta Mellark, a Ravenclaw boy in Katniss’ year, had been the unfortunate target of Johanna’s bad judgment, when she caught him staring at Katniss (or so she claimed) in a rather unbecoming way.

Johanna didn’t generally talk about what she did to earn her impressively consistent string of detentions, so Katniss really had no frame of reference, but she had been present for this one, and she had to admit that this time, at least, Johanna had definitely earned the three nights she would be spending at Madam Pince’s mercy.

Somehow, this detention had Johanna particularly riled up. Though she was never pleased at getting caught, Johanna generally accepted her detentions as a matter of course and went on with her life. But Johanna was adamant this time that she had been justified.

“You should have seen the way he was staring at you!”

“He wasn’t staring at me, Johanna. Why would he be staring at me? I’m sure you were just imagining things,” Katniss said reasonably, and it was true. They had Charms together, but she had never talked to Peeta before in her life.

“Because he  _likes_  you, brainless,” Johanna said in frustration. 

“So you threw a book at him?” As much as she liked her, sometimes Katniss really didn’t understand what was going on in Johanna’s head. How she managed to convince herself that things like this were a good idea was beyond her.

“It’s not like he even got hurt,” Johanna frowned. “I mean, if I’d actually hit him, I’d understand why she was so mad.”

“He didn’t get hurt because he ducked, not because you weren’t trying,” Katniss pointed out.

“Well, three days of detention just for throwing a book is still stupid,” Johanna said.

So was throwing a book as someone just for staring, Katniss thought, but she kept that particular opinion to herself.

\- - - -

It had been Finnick’s idea to “keep Johanna company” during her detention (which Katniss correctly assumed to mean “make a mess and force Johanna to clean it”). Not that Katniss hadn’t been more than willing to participate, but the idea itself had not been hers, and she felt that that was worth remembering.

“You guys  _suck,_ ” Johanna said, cleaning yet another spilled bottle of ink off of their table. ( _“By hand, too! Isn’t that what we have wands for? This is stupid muggle stuff. No offense, Katniss.”_ ) 

Flashing his most charming smile as Johanna threatened, once again, to hex him into oblivion (while her usual material certainly still packed a punch, Katniss couldn’t help thinking that Johanna needed some new threats), Finnick shrugged. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me tonight. I guess I’m just really uncoordinated.” 

“You’re the worst,” Johanna seethed, flicking her ink-stained rag at Finnick, splattering his face with black droplets.

“Now, Johanna,” Finnick said with mock seriousness. “That wasn’t nice. I don’t need to talk to Madam Pince about you, do I?”

That shut Johanna up, and she turned on Katniss, instead. “And  _you_. I thought  _you_  were my friend, at least. I mean, I’m only here because of you.”

“You’re here because you threw a book at someone. I had nothing to do with that decision,” Katniss said. “And anyway, I’m just doing my homework.” It was true - as much as she was enjoying Finnick’s antics, Katniss was not participating in any way (though she suspected that her laughter made her more than guilty enough in Johanna’s mind).

“Oh, sure, like you’re not just here because Finnick said it’d be funny.”

“Of course I am. But I’m not talking to you. I’m not making a mess. I’m not trying in any way to make your detention any harder. Like I said, I’m just trying to do my homework. And  _you_  are making it very difficult,” Katniss said pointedly.

“You guys really do suck,” Johanna said. 

“Careful I don’t  _accidentally_  spill my ink again.” Finnick warned. “Apparently I’m being very clumsy tonight.”

“Careful I don’t shove your quill so far down your throat that you start coughing up feathers,” Johanna retorted.

“I bet there’s a spell for that in one of these books. Maybe if you throw enough of them, you’ll find it,” Finnick teased. Katniss tried her best not to laugh at that, but a small snort of amusement made its way out anyway.

“I hate you both,” Johanna said, stomping off.

“You know you love us!” Finnick called after her. “Especially Katniss - I mean, look at her. She’s precious!”

It was Katniss’ turn to glare at Finnick. She had managed to avoid Johanna’s ire as best as possible up to this point, and she really didn’t appreciate being called  _precious_ , of all things, by upperclassmen.

To her surprise, however, Johanna turned around, staring at Katniss intently, brows furrowed in thought. Finally, she turned her attention to Finnick once more with a glare that Katniss was pretty sure could have melted him. “I am going to  _kill_  you, Odair.”


	6. Worth the Effort

“Don’t do it, Johanna,” Finnick said, jabbing his quill in Johanna’s direction as she sat, banging her head against the plush chair in the Slytherin common room in frustration.

“Do what?” Johanna asked in frustration. “I’m not doing  _anything_ , and that’s sort of the problem, stupid. How am I supposed to pick classes to sign up for? They  _all_  sound so  _boring_.”

“Don’t sign up for Muggle Studies. It’s actually really hard.  _And_  really boring. I mean, I don’t know how Katniss managed for eleven years. Even  _I_  kept falling asleep in class, so you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Johanna’s head shot up, brown eyes focusing intently on Finnick’s quill. “What makes you think I’m going to sign up for Muggle Studies?” she demanded.

“Katniss,” Finnick said simply.

“What?”

“I see that look you get whenever she talks about muggle stuff. Like you’re confused, and you’re mad that you’re confused, and you really want to know but you’re too stupidly proud to admit it,” Finnick shrugged. “Instead of signing up for Muggle Studies, you should just ask her. She asks you about wizarding stuff, so you can ask her about muggle stuff.”

“No, I can’t,” Johanna said, frowning.

“Okay, I’m sure you don’t actually have a good reason, but let’s hear it anyway.  _Why_  can’t you ask Katniss about the muggle world?”

“Because I’m  _older_ ,” Johanna said emphatically. 

Finnick stared at her, his expression somewhere between amusement and disbelief. “Because you’re  _older_? You can’t ask Katniss questions about something she obviously knows way more than you about because you’re  _older_ than her?”

“So?” Johanna asked defensively. “I can’t just go around asking first-years questions, it’ll make me look stupid.”

“Your grades if you take Muggle Studies will make you look stupid, too.” 

“You suck.”

“And you’re being stupid.” 

“Am not.”

“You really are. But I mean, if you  _want_  to fail, that’s totally your decision.”

Scowling, Johanna jabbed her quill at the parchment in front of her hard enough to tear straight through it. “Well, I’m taking it. And  _not_  because of Katniss, so shut up.”

“Sure, Johanna,” Finnick said. “If that makes you feel better.” 

“You suck.”

“You already said that.”

“Well, it’s still true.” 

No, I’m trying to give some friendly advice based on personal experience to a girl who seems to be determined to yell at me about it,” Finnick pointed out. “Muggle Studies really is a hard class, and let’s be honest, you’re not the best student in the world.”

“I’m not stupid!” Johanna said sharply, eyes flashing angrily.

“I didn’t say you were,” Finnick said. “You’re plenty smart, but you don’t like doing homework. Or paying attention in class. Or going to class at all. But then again, you  _do_ like Katniss. Quite a lot, I think.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Johanna demanded.

“Nothing,” Finnick said. “Just that maybe the desire to not look stupid in front of Katniss will motivate you to actually try.”

Johanna’s shoulders slumped, and she looked at Finnick, somewhat dejected. “Is it really that hard?”

“It’s really that hard,” Finnick confirmed. “It’s a lot of work, and you really don’t know anything about muggles, if your interactions with Katniss are any indication.”

“Do you think it’s worth it?”

“I think you’d be better off just asking Katniss,” Finnick said honestly. 

“Not gonna happen,” Johanna said fiercely. 

“Would you actually work?” 

“I don’t know, maybe.”

“Johanna…”

“Okay, fine,” Johanna said, lips pursed and brows furrowed. “I’d do the work.”

“You would actually try?” Finnick asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean,  _really_  try? Not just show up to class and be awake most of the time and fake it on the homework?”

“If I have to,” Johanna said seriously. 

“Well, I still think you’re being stupid, but if anyone can get through a class by sheer stubbornness alone, it’s you, so go for it, I guess,” Finnick relented.

“Wait, you actually think I could do it?” Johanna asked, her eyes widening in surprise. 

Finnick smiled sympathetically, nudging her shoulder. “I think you’re smarter than you give yourself credit for. You just need motivation, and if Katniss motivates you to care about school a little, then maybe it’s not such a terrible idea.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Johanna hesitated for a moment, her quill poised inches from the parchment in front of her, before circling one of the options in front of her. “Maybe you don’t suck that much,” she said, looking up at Finnick with gratitude. “But if you say a word to Katniss, you’re dead.” 

“Oh, I won’t have to,” Finnick said brightly. “Katniss is a smart girl, she’ll figure it out on her own.”

Scowling, Johanna punched Finnick in the arm, hard. “I take it back. You still suck.”


	7. Like a Bullet in the Back

In the year since they had met, Finnick had never known Johanna to be one for subtlety.  She wore her emotions, which until recently had seemed to consist predominantly of anger and frustration, firmly on her sleeve at all times. He didn’t know what exactly it was that kept her in such a state all the time. It had never seemed prudent to ask - likely, it would have caused her to shut down and shut him out - but as far as he could tell, her problem seemed to be with the entire world.

The whole world, that was, except for Katniss.

Something in Katniss seemed to not soothe, but temper, Johanna’s anger just the tiniest bit. Just enough to function. She sat beside him now, in a quiet corner of the Common Room. Her brows were creased and her tongue poked at the tip of her quill, and if she wasn’t working, she was at least doing a damn good job of looking like she was.

“You’re different these days.”

“Say what?” Her head jerked upwards, defenses ever at the ready.

“You’re  _different_ , dorko.” Finnick quirked the side of his lips slightly, the half-smile he was well aware made every girl  _except_ Johanna go justalittleweak in the knees.

Johanna rolled her eyes, her left hand clenched reflexively into a fist, ready to come to her own defense. “Am  _not_.”

He patted her hand, unclenched her fingers, and wrinkled his nose at her. “No, that’s not a bad thing. But you are.”

Johanna eyed him warily. “What are you talking about, stupid?” 

Finnick rolled his eyes and widened his smile eversoslightly. “You’re  _happy_ _._ ”


End file.
